Music

Perhaps Gratitude vocalist/songwriter Jonah Matranga’s just sick of paying his dues. He fronted emo hopefuls Far throughout the ’90s (preceding the emo explosion by a decade, it’s worth noting) before doing the solo thing as onelinedrawing, a more stripped-down (and frankly better) indie vehicle. Both bands got this close to…

Life in Pictures has been making the trek from Prescott into Phoenix to play metal for a few years now. But beyond making a name in the local community, the band has caught the attention of Tim Lambesis, vocalist for the rising Christian metalcore band As I Lay Dying, who…

1. Mudvayne, Lost and Found (Sony) 2. Mindless Self Indulgence, You’ll Rebel to Anything (Metropolis) 3. Beck, Guero (Geffen) 4. Slipknot, Volume 3: (The Subliminal Verses) (Roadrunner) 5. Mars Volta, Frances the Mute (Universal) 6. The Killers, Hot Fuss (Island) 7. The Bravery, The Bravery (Island) 8. Jack Johnson, In…

Best I could tell from months of listening without a lyric sheet — thank you, Internet — this second disc from the kin of itinerant evangelist Leon Followill had something (okay, everything) to do with fuckin’. You could hear it in singer Caleb Followill’s delivery, the greasy whine of the…

If Ronnie Van Zant had replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath sometime around 1974, the result probably would have sounded a lot like the latest disc from North Carolina’s Corrosion of Conformity. In the Arms of God is a fierce, impressive comeback effort from these guys, and after five years…

The B-52’s for the post-Simpsons era, the five members of Detroit’s Electric Six make dancing not only fun again, but funny. In the proud tradition of the band’s 2003 debut, Fire, there’s an emergency in progress on the new Señor Smoke, and the only solution is to dance as if…

Jason Molina is an itinerant artist, driven to challenge himself and change up his material and approach in search of new “moments.” Molina’s done things such as recruiting players unfamiliar with the songs and recording them as they discovered them, or decamping to an abandoned factory to get the perfect…

Leader of the indie rock band Cursive and his side project, The Good Life, Tim Kasher performs drunken, woebegone tales of relational dysfunction that have crowned him heir to Lou Barlow as the most emotionally besotted individual in indie rock. Like Barlow, Kasher shares unerring aim for the heart of…

You’ve probably never had the chance to party and dance the night away on the island electro-mecca of Ibiza, Spain, or shake it down at Club TLV in Tel Aviv, Israel, but this Saturday, April 23, you can pretend you’ve escaped the desert for more exotic climes when legendary tribal…

Hinson was raised a fundamentalist Christian, but by the time he was 19, he’d descended into his own private hell of addiction, jail and homelessness. During his downward spiral, he kept writing lyrics and composing tunes on borrowed instruments, and his dark odyssey is now brought to life with a…

Snakier and spookier than anything on the recent Trojan or Studio One compilations, Down Santic Way boasts incredible focus where the others offer breadth. There’s a reason for this: Where the former labels enjoyed a decades-long life span, Leonard Chin’s Santic Records hammered out its legacy within a concentrated period…

Call her the anti-Norah Jones. Crinkly-voiced, not particularly friendly, more issues than a thrift-store guitar — Martha Wainwright is a rare example of the darker folk-inspired singer-songwriter. And occasionally, she takes it too far, as when she molests a great song with the refrain “Ya bloody mother fuckin’ asshole.” Likewise,…

It’s nice to finally hear a local band living up to its hype. With Up, Ember Coast has proven it has what it takes to play with the nationals. The disc kicks off with the catchiest and most radio-friendly “On My Mark.” Vocalist Sean Brennan uses breath control to add…

Things to think about next time you toe-tap to “Seventh Son”: Johnny Rivers, whose last hit was “Swayin’ to the Music (Slow Dancin’)” in 1977, still continues packing fans into large halls, while his contemporaries slog away in pathetic oldies revues. A savvy businessman early on, he worked an integrity…

Have you ever complained about the lack of unity in the Phoenix music community? Well, it’s time to put your money where your mouth is. The guys in positive hardcore band Where Eagles Dare borrowed some friends’ trailer for a tour, and then came back to our fair city to…

Choose Your Own Adventure #296: Papa Roach You are in a rap-rock band from California. You hit it big in 2000 with your multi-platinum album Infest, and its smash single, “Last Resort,” but your 2002 follow-up, lovehatetragedy, tanked amid the decline and fall of nü-metal. You want to keep the…

My eyelids fluttered open, and there, peering down at me, was a six-foot-tall platypus wearing a paisley vest, a monocle, and a mischievous smile. “Wh-wh-where am I?” I stammered, sitting up in the purple grass and gazing at the grove of marshmallow trees in front of me. “Now, now, my…

It’s understandable that much sophisticated ink has been spent on Q and Not U’s context, rather than its music. The band does, after all, come complete with its share of buzzy reference points, including (try not to get nauseous) “dance punk,” “DC-core” and “emo.” But let’s pretend we’re blissfully unschooled…

1. Beck, Guero (Geffen) 2. Jack Johnson, In Between Dreams (Universal) 3. Mae, The Everglow (Tooth & Nail) 4. Mars Volta, Frances the Mute (Universal) 5. The Bravery, The Bravery (Island) 6. Queens of the Stone Age, Lullabies to Paralyze (Interscope) 7. Thrice, If We Could Only See Us Now…